Book review: Wildwood

BOOK OVERVIEW

Title: Wildwood
Author: Colin Meloy
Genre: Children's novel

Illustrator: Carson Ellis

Publisher: Balzer + Bray

Pages: 541

Prue McKeel's life is ordinary. That is, until her brother is abducted by a murder of crows and taken to the Impassable Wilderness, a dense, tangled forest on the edge of Portland. No one's ever gone in - or at least returned to tell of it.

So begins an adventure that will take Prue and her friend Curtis deep into the Impassable Wilderness. There they uncover a secret world in the midst of violent upheaval - a world full of warring creatures, peaceable mystics, and powerful figures with the darkest intentions. And what begins as a rescue mission becomes something much greater as the two friends find themselves entwined in a struggle for the very freedom of this wilderness. A wilderness the locals call Wildwood. 

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Prue's baby brother, Mac, is abducted by a murder of crows when they were strolling around on the park nearby their home. Prue was devastated and decided to look for him - and that means that she had to go to the Impassable Wilderness, a forest everyone avoided. They didn't even dare talking about it, let stand going inside. But there was nothing else to do than going into the Impassable Wilderness, to save her baby brother.
On her way to the forbidden forest, Curtis, a classmate of Prue's, has been following her out of curiosity. Prue at first ignored and rejected his companion, but before she could send him back, they were separated while fleeing from coyotes.

Prue discovered a whole different world inside Wildwood - she rode on a mail truck to South Wood where she could find help. There she found out about a bureaucracy and a disfunctional government. Prue eventually met the Crown Prince Owl Rex, who suggested her to cross Wildwood and find the Mystics of North Wood, who could help both Prue and Wildwood. 

“We are the inheritors of a wonderful world, a beautiful world, full of life and mystery, goodness and pain. But likewise are we the children of an indifferent universe. We break our own hearts imposing our moral order on what is, by nature, a wide web of chaos.” 

In the mean time, Curtis was being flattered by Alexandra, the leader of the coyotes army. He got a nice uniform, a sward and all kinds of compliments. Curtis accidentally made the army win during a war against bandits by destroying their howitzer. So he became a coyote war hero. Afterwards he stumbled upon Mac in one of Alexandra's headquarters where Alexandra told him her plans: to sacrifice Mac to the ivy. Alexandra promised that she would share her power with Curtis but when Curtis disagreed, he was imprisoned with some captured bandits and coyotes.

During her flight on the back of an eagle sent by Owl Rex to North Wood, Prue got into an accident and was found by the Bandit King named Brendan who offered her some help. Somehow they were captured by coyotes, Prue got sent to Alexandra while Brendan was imprisoned. Alexandra promised Prue that she would find Mac, so Prue was convinced enough to leave The Wood and go back home - to the Outside.
In the prison, Curtis revealed Alexandra's plans to the prisoners. They all managed to escape.
Back home, Prue learnt about her parent's bargain with Alexandra and she decided to return to rescue Mac.

“There’s as much benefit to wishing the world away as there is in demanding a bud to bloom. It’s better to live presently. By living thus, perhaps we can learn to understand the nature of this fragile coexistence we share with the world around us.”

I might have failed in writing a good summary of this book; because I just couldn't find a way to summarize everything shortly and not spoil every bit of the story.
The story is so beautifully written and I totally enjoyed everything. The plot was a little bit slow-paced but that was totally fine. I am quite surprised by the difficult words used in this book ;_; I have read some reviews on Goodreads and indeed, I was not the only one. Some even said this book was not age-appropriate.
Even though I enjoyed the story, I spent 3 weeks on reading this book - which rarely happens, the longest time I need to finish a book has always been one week and a half.
The book is full with nice illustrations, which always make it easier to imagine all the things explained in the book. There are maps of Wildwood too! ;)

One thing I sorry about this book is that I actually thought Prue and Curtis would venture the woods together. As a reader, I liked Prue quite much - I just couldn't imagine myself to be as brave if I was twelve years old. I reallyyyyyyy enjoyed Curtis' part, he is so loyal to Prue and he does everything he can to help her out of this situation.

Overall, this book has satisfied me. I might be reading Under Wildwood and Wildwood Imperium as soon as I get the time.

xxxxxxxxx,

Elizabeth